﻿Lagos blood donations increase ten-fold

ABUJA: THE Lagos State Blood Transfusion Committee (LSBTC) has urged stakeholders to help achieve the target the World Health Organization (WHO) has set for 2020.

The United Nations agency is targeting that by year 2020, all blood should be sourced from voluntary donors.

The Chairman of the State Blood Transfusion Committee, Dr Adetoun Agbe-Davies, gave the task at the 2014 annual free public health screening and awareness programme organized by the Muslim Congress (TMC) of Mushin Local Government.

She tasked stakeholders to intensify efforts aimed at ensuring that the set goal was achieved as this would go a long way to address issues of touting in blood donation and demand for replacement of blood through family donation for mothers at ante natal booking.

Agbe-Davies urged everyone to imbibe the spirit of voluntary blood donation and also become repeat donors as making safe blood available was a collective responsibility.

She stated that creating awareness on the vital role of voluntary blood donation toward achieving the goal of saving lives and reducing deaths was important because records had shown that quite a number of deaths are related to loss of blood.

“We cannot overemphasize the need to ensure availability of blood in our blood banks where patients who require blood transfusion can be readily supplied,” she said.

“That is why we are intensifying our awareness campaign to encourage more voluntary blood donors to join others who give their blood willingly and freely without knowing the recipients.”

She expressed delight that most Lagos resident were keying into the vision by responding positively to the clarion call to donate blood voluntarily.

“The number of voluntary blood donors has been increasing regularly since the inception of Lagos State Blood Transfusion Committee and is currently 10 times more,” she said.

A total of 4 755 donations were received in 2013 up from 474 in the year 2006 when the project started.

“We hope that more people will take interest in helping others to save their lives,” Agbe-Davies said.